82 BULLETIN 0J>, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Externally this species is very miicli like Rattus dennise, but the 

 skulls of the two forms are very difTerent. Skulls of taitse, are more 

 slender and less angular than those of dennise; they have smaller, 

 flatter braincases and more sharply notched antorbital foramina. 



For measurements of specimens see page 80. 



RATTUS STELLA EAIMOS^ (Heller). 



Plate 22. 



1912. Epimys alleni kaimosx Heller, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 59, No. 16, p. 

 7. July 5. (Kaimosi, Kakumega Forest, British East Africa; type in 

 U. S. Nat. Mus.) 



Specimens. — Four, as follows: 

 British East Africa: Kaimosi (Heller). 



I have had no specimens of typical Rattus steUa^ from the Ituri 

 forest for comparison with these skins. 



For measurements of specimens of R. s. Icaimosse see page 81. 



RATTUS FUMATUS FUMATUS (Peters). 



Plate 22. 



1878. Musfumatus Peters, Mon.-ber. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, March, 1878, 



p. 200. (Ukamha, British East Africa: type in Berlin Mus.) 

 1910. Mus niveiventris Osgood, Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Zool. ser., vol. 10, No. 2, 



p. 12. February. (Voi, British East Africa; type in Field Mus. Nat. 



Hist., Chicago.) 

 1910. Epimys niveiventris ulse Heller, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 56, No. 9, 



p. 3. July 22. (Ulukenia Hills, British East Africa; type in U. S, 



Nat. Mus.) 

 1910. Epimys nievcntris ulse Roosevelt, African Game Trails, Amer. ed., pp. 



473, 478, 484; London ed., pp. 485, 489, 495. (Part; references to Athi 



Plains.) 



Specimens. — One hundred and ten, from the following localities: 

 British East Africa: Kapiti Plains, 47, including 9 in alcohol 

 (Loring) ; Mount Gargues, 12, including 1 in alcohol (Heller) ; Mount 

 Mbololo, 1 (Heller); Mount Sagalla, 5 (Heller); Mtoto Andei, 1 

 (Heller); Ndi, 11 (Heller); Ulukenia Hills, 27, including 11 in alcohol 

 (Loring); Voi, 6 (Heller). 



In British East Africa there are two fairly well-marked subspecies 

 of a small rat of the subgenus Mijomys, representing Rattus verroxi ^ 

 of South Africa. These two forms were first distinguished by Osgood 

 in 1910 and were named as new, with type-localities in the Taita 

 Hills (niveiventns) and at Lake Elmenteita (suhfuscus). The two 

 subspecies apparently reach their extremes of differentiation at these 

 points, and specimens from intermediate localities are less typical 

 and show a blending of characters of the two races, chiefly marked by 

 the absence or presence of a grayish imdercolor to the hairs of the 



» Epimys Stella Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 7, p. 590. July, 1911. 

 » Mas verroxi Smith, South Afr. Quart. Joum., vol. 2, p. 156, 1834 (Epimys or Mus verreauxi of authors). 

 Reference verified for me by Oldfield Thomas at the British Museum. 



